2024 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 253-265
The 2020 Census of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan showed a nationwide decline in key agricultural indicators (cultivated land, management entities, and farming labor force), possibly causing the retreat of agriculture as structural changes related to the sector occur. This study investigated whether Okinawa’s agriculture, which showed the most conspicuous decline in Japan, is retreating considering the dynamics of its key indicators and agricultural structure on the main and remote islands. The results revealed that key indicators declined both in 2020 on the main island, where the agricultural decline has been noted, and in the remote islands that formed Okinawa’s agricultural core after its reversion to Japan. The agricultural structure shows that the growth of the upper entities has not been remarkable, supporting the conclusion that Okinawan agriculture has retreated. This is likely due to generations with large agricultural labor forces retiring from the sector and a tight labor market stimulated by favorable economic trends since the mid-2010s.
